Re: the Mappers Wishlist
 

We can actually do that on our own. There was a project for it in Dom2 but it didnt get very far.
http://www.dom2minions.com/SemiRandom.shtml

I was going to ask for peoples special provinces and create a directory for them which would allow them to be randomly selected and inserted into random maps.

Re: the Mappers Wishlist
 

Interesting. What is the status of the project for Dominions 3? You could use the Orania special provinces as a default database for testing. I don't know much about the program, but other than rarity, terrain required, etc, would it be easy to define each special province simply as you would in a .MAP file, which the generator just copies and pastes?

Perhaps a program the analyses a plain .MAP file with its terrain types and outputs a .MAP file with some randomised special provinces?

Re: the Mappers Wishlist
 

That was the concept.

Terrain, neighbors, and nostarts could be analyzed. That way special recognition could be given to
forest
mountain
swamp
combos such as forest/mountain
lakes (water with all land neighbors)
islands (land with all water neighbors)
nostart (not enough neighbors, possible choke points on map)
dead ends (only one neighbor)
cut offs till late game (no neighbors)

It doesnt matter to me how long it takes or how much "thinking" the programming needs to do. I can leave it running on my server and make the map available each time it finishes. It can take a full day to generate a map. It could take a week.

Re: the Mappers Wishlist
 

the things you mentioned analyzing the *.map for don't seem like they ought to take that long, unless i'm missing something. why would this ever take more than a few seconds to run, even with many provinces?

Re: the Mappers Wishlist
 

It wouldnt. Im just saying that Id be willing to pile on as many rewrites as I can. They could all be worked up seperately and then chained to run one after the other on a randomly created map (the really large ones can take 2 to 3 hours to generate just the initial map)

Such as examining terrains and adding logical names for forests, swamps, islands, etc etc as you saw in another post of mine.

Or resetting the native populations to different balances.

Or adding additional armies to independent provinces logically based on the terrains or the native populations. Giving them each helpful additional leaders. For some a mage, others a priest, and others a combat leader depending on what was lacking. Possibly giving the additional leaders a full load of randomly selected equipment.

Or adding specific sites, such as some minor cave site, and declaring it to be a secret passage from a province to another matching cave site far away. (anyone remember playing chutes and ladders?)

Or matching it up with a randomly generated MOD and working them both in together for a surprise game that no one can be prepared for.

Hmmmm what else can I come up with to extend the processing time. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: the Mappers Wishlist
 

Is there a reason that some commands work as MODs but not as MAPs?

What Im thinking is... on a map I can name a province, name a commander, name a god. But I cant name a nation. If I could give a name to the empty modding slots then that would be great for the games Im planning. Much easier than having everyone download a mod just to play that game with.

Re: the Mappers Wishlist
 

I would like the option of turning off certain decorative sprites (volcanoes, etc, that have no bearing in terms of game mechanics) in the map generator.

This way, a "scenario generator" can randomly generate special provinces and draw in any relevant features on to the .TGA (eg, a volcano for "Father Fire" from Orania).

Speaking of which, how is your "Semi Random" project going Gandalf Parker? Is it still progressing? Because I think it's an excellent idea. I'd write one myself, but I am quite busy and may not have time until this Christmas, or even Christmas 2007 :-/.

Re: the Mappers Wishlist
 

Yes I would also like to know the progress...

I'm right in the same boat as you Singularity24601... my life is so busy and chaotic I rarely have time for games.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif
I can't even take a day off from work... long story, but even if I could take a day off from work it would be spent doing boring/annoying errands.

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Currently a command exists called #allies <nation#> <nation#> for setting computer opponents as allies.

I recommend an opposite command called #war <nation#> <nation#> which would place two computer opponents to always be at war. Also it could be used to instantly create a permanent war between a human and computer opponent.

Re: the Mappers Wishlist
 

What I'd like is some improvement to scripting sites and populations.

Currently, the way site scripting works is that first the game creates the map, randomly assigns sites and populations and adds provncial defenders and only then does it execute map commands such as #feature or #knownfeature. This means that if random site allocation fills up a province, scripted sites will not be added.

There is a way to ensure that the scripted stuff happens, which is #killfeatures. The problem is that it removes everything and then you add scripts.

So it's either script without #killfeatures and hope for the best (rather chancy of site frequency is high) or get guaranteed scripted sites but no randoms whatsoever.

And the whole bloody point is being able to script something that appears with certainty and then maybe getting something extra. Not the other way around.

It'd be much the same with the province defense. Better that the poptype scripting runs before assignment of native defenders, that way you won't get amazons defending some measly militia/light infantry combo as is liable to happen otherwise.

Edi

Re: the Mappers Wishlist
 

I'd like the ability to add special abilities to units in certain regions. I'm thinking airshield for all units while they're underground-different levels for different provinces, like 20% to represent open caverns or 80% for tight, twisting tunnels, or certain provinces boosting ability in a certain path for any unit who happens to wander in and jungles where if you stay too long you get a disease-think Tsitzi-fly infestation, only it might be microscopic imps or atomies with elfshot etc. If there was a global command #underground_airshieldR then the computer would randomly assign 20%-80% airshield for all underground provinces. Samd thing for jungles- #jungle_diseaseR and the computer would randomly assign say a 1-10% chance for every unit in a jungle province to catch a disease each round they remain there. The magic bonus could be handled something like #magic_allR and #forest_magicR where the computer would give each province or each forest province a 1% chance to boost magic by 1 in 1 specific path, with maybe a 1 in 500 or 1 in 1000 chance to boost more than one path or one path by 2 points, etc. Other commands could include #desert_fireR where the computer would give each desert a 1% chance to boost fire magic by 1 point. These random abilities or detriments should come accompanied by a short message describing that they're in effect. I wouldn't mind just having a special site that could duplicate these abilities, but I don't know if such things currently exist or can be modded in.